Pioneer SV-70

This review is for the SV-70-IV (the other models have been discontinued by Pioneer)

I recently purchased the new Pioneer VSX-917 Amp and was looking for a new set of speakers as my old Panasonics just weren't cutting it any more. I was undecided wether or not to buy a set of floor standing speakers or to go for the more compact bookshelf speakers.

I spent hours doing some research on the net and basically what most experts say is that if you have a decent sub you can still get incredible sound using satellite or bookshelf speakers as it will cover the entire freaquency range. Provided they are good quality, which the Pioneers certainly are.

I phoned a few reputable dealers to find out how best to match speakers to an amp and the most important factor is that the speakers must have the same impedence (Ohms) as the amp. Then you need to get speakers that have a similar RMS Wattage as the amp. So if your Amp has 100 watts RMS per channel you need speakers that are between 90 - 150 Watts. The Pioneer SV-70-IV is 130 watts per channel so it powerfull enough for about 90% of the the entire Pioneer range of Amps.

The package consists of 4 x 3way bookshelf speakers, a centre speaker and a 160 watt (RMS) active sub woofer. The full technical specs are as follows:

Bookshelf Speakers S-V70-IV
Woofer 2 x 7.7cm cone woofers
Tweeter 2cm dome tweeter
Impedance 8 Ω
Frequency Range 60 - 40,000 Hz
Sensitivity 89 dB
Power Handling 130W
Dimensions (W x H x D) 150 x 300 x 70 mm
Weight 2.7 kg

Centre Speaker S-V70-IV
Woofer 2 x 7.7cm cone woofers
Tweeter 2cm dome tweeter
Impedance 8 Ω
Frequency Range 62 - 42.000
Sensitivity 89 dB
Power Handling 130W
Dimensions (W x H x D) 300 x 150 x 70 mm
Weight 2.7 kg

Subwoofer S-V70-IV
Driver 22 cm cone woofer
Speaker Input Sensitivity/Impedance (100 Hz) 2,0 V + 2,0 V / 15 kΩ
Line Input Sensitivity/Impedance (100 Hz) 200 mV / 50 kΩ
Frequency Range 30 - 200 Hz
Power Handling 160W
Dimensions (W x H x D) 361 x 434 x 420 mm
Weight 18.5 kg

The added bonus is that these speakers come with 3 coloured interchangable grills, red, white and black, 5 speakers are finished in Aluminium while the sub is made out of wood. So they will suit any environment or decor that you have. They also all come with a mounting bracket so they can be mounted onto your wall.

(Just for interest sake the human ear can only pick up Frequencies between 20Hz and 20 000 Hz so I am not quite sure as to why some speakers have ranges up to 100 000 Hz?)

I paid £425 for the set and I am most impressed. The sound quality is incredible and I would rate this product very highly. If you have an amp that is between 90-130 watts RMS per channel I would definately reccomend this speaker package.